J. Hill

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley), who represents the prettiest district outside Arkansas.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McDowell), our new Member.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), chairman of our Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I have the pleasure to introduce the author of this important legislation, and I yield 4\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer), the majority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume in support of H.R. 1919. This bill has been before us in this House Chamber. We debated it in the last Congress. It has had the outstanding leadership support and advocacy by our majority whip here in the House, Mr. Tom Emmer of Minnesota. I rise in strong support. At stake is a fundamental choice about the future of money in America, a choice between freedom or government control. Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, put the government at the center of every financial transaction: monitoring, controlling, and possibly restricting how Americans could use their own hard-earned money. An American Government-controlled digital dollar threatens to open the door to government overreach here at home. It would threaten individual privacy and stifle innovation by undermining progress that we have seen from private-sector solutions like we just talked about on the House floor, privately issued U.S. dollar-backed payment stablecoins. That is a continuation of the evolution of the private-sector guiding the expanse of our money, how we use our money to make payments, formerly starting out with cash. We wrote checks. We use debit cards and ATM cards at the point of sale. We use credit cards. We can send money by wire transfer or by an electronic check. The private sector has innovated all along that continuum of financial technology, and that is why today we don't want the Fed to drive that, to potentially control it, to issue it, for individuals to bank at the Fed and be subject to these risks to privacy or surveillance. Let's stick with the approach of private-sector solutions. We have already seen small glimpses of this possibility under the prior administration. The chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigations, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, has been having a robust discussion about the debanking policies of the prior administration for politically disfavored industries. The capability for the government then to follow on and directly freeze or delete Americans' funds on a whim is not compatible with our values, our cherished freedoms, our way of life, or even the past approach to the evolution of payments in our country. Moreover, a government-run digital dollar would put the Federal Reserve potentially in direct competition with the private sector. Further, a CBDC would create unnecessary risks by consolidating financial power within the Federal Government, limiting choice and threatening the very innovation that made American financial markets the strongest in the world. For all these reasons, I am thankful that consistently my friend, our colleague, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, has been leading the charge to prohibit the implementation of a U.S. central bank digital currency. I thank him for the work he has done to elevate this issue in the Congress and bring this bill before us once again for a vote on this House floor. I hope all my colleagues can recognize that Article I determines how we issue money and how we value it, that that is a power of the Congress, and that we are not delegating it to the executive. We control that in Article I. This bill says that you can't issue a CBDC without that specific explicit authority and direction from the Congress. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting Mr. Emmer's bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the Congressional Budget Office estimate for this bill.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Steil), our distinguished chair of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 580, I call up the bill (H.R. 1919) to amend the Federal Reserve Act to prohibit the Federal reserve banks from offering certain products or services directly to an individual, to prohibit the use of central bank digital currency for monetary policy, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr), who is the chair of our House Financial Institutions Subcommittee.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer), who is our majority whip and who has been an absolute, essential early focus policymaker in the digital asset space.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Steil). Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is an essential leader in our committee and also the chairman of our Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill in the Record.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Huizenga), who is the vice chairman of our full committee and who is a longtime advocate for reform in the digital markets.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Davidson), who is the chairman of our Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions and a longtime policy advocate for reform in our digital markets.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing. Mr. Speaker, let me start by saying that we are here on the floor, where we have heard a vigorous debate about dollar-backed payment stablecoins. Our committee has worked under both Democratic leadership with Ms. Waters and Republican leadership to research this, talk about it, think about it, and have hearings about it for over 5 years now. We come to the House floor today with a bill before us that, while not perfect, is a good bill, as has been evidenced by our speakers on the floor. S. 1582, the GENIUS Act, is a simple, bipartisan bill that is long overdue and is based on that bipartisan work in both Chambers. Wow, we are actually legislating. We are seeing bills passed in both Chambers. It is exciting for me to see the good work of my friend, Chairman Tim Scott of the Banking Committee, in leading a policy-driven effort to put America's financial leadership first. S. 1582, as written by Bill Hagerty, does exactly that. Mr. Speaker, 68 Senators voted for this bill in the United States Senate. A cloture-proof margin is only 60, but here 68 Senators came together, including 18 Democrats. They vigorously debated this bill, worked on it, improved it, modified it, and sent it to us in the House. Likewise, Chairman Steil here in the House worked with those Senators on both sides of the aisle all along the way to take the ideas that we had here in the House in our markup and our STABLE Act and improve the GENIUS Act. With this legislation today, on a bipartisan basis, we are modernizing our financial infrastructure, streamlining transactions, lowering costs, and expanding financial tools for everyday Americans. This is about putting American innovation first. It is about creating a future where innovation is met with clarity, not confusion; where American ingenuity is empowered, not stifled, by an outdated, not-fit- for-purpose regulatory regime. The GENIUS Act will help maintain U.S. global leadership in financial technology, digital innovation, and the power of the reserve currency-- the United States dollar--while reinforcing important consumer protections and critical regulatory oversight where it is needed most. This is commonsense, forward-looking legislation that reminds me of the earliest days of this House Chamber agreeing in 1996 not to tax or regulate the internet, but to tax and regulate how people use the internet. This is a keen example of that principles-based legislation. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the GENIUS Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer), who is a distinguished member of the House Financial Services Committee.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Vindman).

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Haridopolos), our majority whip of the House Financial Services Committee.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), the chairman of our Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Flood), who chairs our Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.